Sarah Harris

Sarah Harris, a young, recent MBA student, sets out to raise a search fund and acquire a company in the hospitality business. The case sets up a backdrop for students to role play various selling situations for a would-be entrepreneur. There are a series of five vignettes that illustrate different situations where understanding the sales process and strategies would benefit the situation. In the first vignette, Sarah has to negotiate the acquisition of a small reservations management company. The second vignette puts Sarah in the position of soliciting a potential search fund investor. The third vignette involves the hiring of a key employee and the fourth sets up a situation where the contract renewal of a key account is put into question. The final vignette has to do with selling a new client.